Compartmented safety type feed unit for grinders



0. J. FEIGHT Aug. 26, 1947.

COMPARTMENTED SAFETY TYPE FEED UNIT FOR GRINDERS Original Filed June 2, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet l //VVE/VTOE-' QSGAQ J. FEIGHT,

0. J. FElGHT Aug. 26, 1947.

COMPARTMENTED SAFETY TYPE FEED UNIT FOR GRINDERS Original Filed June 2, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 //YVENTO IQ-' OSCAR J. FileHT.

Aug. 26, 1947.- o. J. FEIGHT GOMPARTMENTED SAFETY TYPE FEED UNIT FOR GRINDERS Original Filed June 2, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 /NVEN7'OIE OscAa J. FEIGHT, BY 7 I Patented Aug. 26, 1947 UNIT OR GRINDERS Oscar J. Feight, Columbus, Ohio,

alsignor, by

meme assignments, to The Jeflrey Manufacturing Company,

a corporation of Ohio Original application June 2, 1942, Serial No.

Divided and this bet 7, 1948, Serial No. 513,250

application Decem- Claims. (Cl. 241-186) bage grinder having an improved receptacle for receiving unground garbage which receptacle includes a plurality of interconnectedv compartments that are positioned above the bottom of the receptacle and one of which is offset laterally,

with respect to the outlet of the receptacle or the inlet of the grinder and into which unground garbage may be raked or shoved from the floor of the receptacle and mixed with waterwhereupon it follows a tortuous path to the grinder, a function of the chambers being to prevent an operator'from getting his hand into the path of the grinding mechanism.

In ca y g out the foregoing object it is another object of the invention to provide an improved garbage grinder in which the ieed chambers and grinding mechanism may be cleaned after use with facility from the tops of the feed chambers.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the grinder comprising my invention, parts thereof being broken away to show the internal structure of the feed compartments thereof.

Fig. 2 is an end view adjacent the grinder end of the device of Fig. 1;

Fig 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional View through the grinder with the feed chute removed;

Fig, 4 is a sectional view through the axis of the rotor of-the grinder;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the garbage receptacle Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of one end of said garbage receptacle;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the linel-l of Fig. 6, looking in the direction of the arrows and Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of certain parts showing particularly the seal between the rotor and one wall of the grinder casing.

This application is filed as a division of my co-pending application, Serial No. 445,433, filed June 2, 1942, for an improvement in a grinder, now Patent No.2,379,957, dated July,10, 1945.

The grinder of my invention is constructed particularly for the grinding of garbage and one of the particular uses to which it has been put is the grinding of garbage on war ships, though its use may obviously be extended to other fields, for

example, it may be used on any kind of ship or in hotels or restaurants.

The grinder comprises a base Ill, having as an integral part thereof a standard ll, upon which is mounted an electric motor I2. The motor II has the usual rotor including a shaft which is mounted upon bearings at opposite ends of the housing of motor l2, which shaft is provided with an extension l3, which extension constitutes the rotor shaft of a rotor H of grinding mechanism I5. The grinding mechanism I! also includes a housing or casing I6. Said housing or casing l6 includes a side wall or plate ll the bottom of which is welded to an angle member is, which v angle member I8 is a part of the standard H and extends transversely across the base ID, the bottom of said angle member ID being welded to said base "I. Welded to the side plate I1 and forming a reinforcing support therefor is a bracket I! having legs on opposite sides of one end of the motor l2, which legs extend downwardly adiacent the ends of the angle member 18 and are rigidly attached to said angle member l8 and to the base Ill as by welding. The top of the bracket 19 includes a transversely extending cross piece 20. It is thus seen that the side plate I! is rigidly and permanently attached to the base l0 particularly by means of the bracket. i9 and angle member 18. Said plate I! is provided with a central hole which is closed in part by a disc 2| which in eifect forms a part of the plate ll as it is preferably rigidly attached thereto as by welding. The disc 2| is also provided with a central openingthrough which the shaft extension it extends.

It is extremely desirable to provide a liquid or water tight seal between the plate ll or any extension thereof, or, in other words, between the wall of the housing or casing l8 adjacent the motor I2, and the shaft l3. To this end I provide a cupped bushing 22 having a flanged portion on the inside of the disc 2| which bushing 22 is removably attached to said disc 2| as by machine screws 23 extending through the disc 2| and threaded into the flange of the bushing 22. The bushing 22 has a central opening slightly larger than the adjacent portion of the shaft l3 thereby permitting said shaft I3 to extend freely therethrough. The cupped shaped portion of the bushing 22 is preferably provided with a seal 24 which may be formed of a U-shaped annulus in which is provided an'annular ring of composition material, leather or the like, around which is a spring 25 which maintains a portion of the composition ring in wiping contact with the adjacent edges become dull.

portion of the shaft i3. This particular type of seal per se is well known in the art. In addition, the left hand portion of the cupped part of bushing 22 is also preferably, provided with a seal 26 seal between the shaft l3 and the wall or plate |'l above described is believed to be new with me. To insure further effectiveness of the seal pro- .vided between the bushing 22 and the adjacent portion of the shaft l3, in which the bushing 22 may be considered as. a part of the plate I1, I also provide a grease fitting 21 by which grease is supplied to the seal. This grease, of course, not

4 I shall now describe the remaining structure of the housing or casing It. It may be stated that the remaining structure of the housing or only perfects the seal but also lubricates it to maintain minimum of friction between said seal and shaft l3.

Before describing the rest of the housing or casing I3 I shall now describe the structure of the rotor l4. The shaft I3 is provided with a shoulder 29 adjacent the bushing 22 against which shoulder 28 and upon which shaft I3 is pressed a rotor end disc 29, said disc 29 being held in place by a key 30. Also pressed upon the shaft l3 and held against rotation by the key 30 is a plurality of spaced discs 3|. Adjacent the right hand end of the shaft I3 is a second end disc 32. Extending between two end discs 29 and 32 and through appropriate openings in the discs 3| and 32 and into the disc 29 isa plurality of pins 33. The pins 33 are provided with heads 34 which abut against the outside surface of the end disc 32. The opposite ends of the pins 33 extend into bores in the end disc 29 but preferably do not extend entirely through said end disc 29. Surrounding each of the pins 33 and between the discs 29, 3| and 32 is a plurality of sleeves 35 which are only provided on alternate pins 33. Said sleeves 35 act as spacers to maintain each of the discs 29, 3| and 32 in proper relation when the rotor- I4 is clamped together as hereinafter described.

On the other alternate pins 33 from those carrying sleeves 35 I provide swing hammers 36 which are provided with sharp leading and trailing edges adjacent their outer ends whereby they may be reversed when their leading or working The swing hammers 36 are held in proper spaced relation between the discs 29, 3| and 32 by means of spacers 31 on the associated pins 33.

The free or outer end of the shaft I3 is threaded and receives a clamping nut 38 which cooperates with a disc spacer 39 adapted to clamp against the end disc 32 and also against a pin holding plate 40 which has a larger diameter than spacer 39 and extends over the heads 34 of the pins 33. When nut 38 is tightened, pressure will be applied to the end disc 32 and to the pins 33 and thereby clamp all of the parts of the rotor H, except the swing hammers 36, rigidly together since the end disc 29 is held against the shoulder 28 on the shaft I3. It is thus to be seen that I have provided a simple rotor structure and one which may be readily assembled on the shaft extension l3. It is furthermore to be particularly noted that this rotor l4 of the grinding mechanism I5 is supported only by the bearings of the electric motor l2 and thus the grinder mechanism l5 per so does not have any bearings. This, of course, makes for overall reduction in the cost of the complete mechanism.

casing in addition to that above described is substantially entirely removable as a unit and this removal can be-effected with the rotor |4 completely assembled, thus providing ready access to the rotor |4 while it remains in its completely assembled position. This characteristic is also extremely desirable in connection with the original assembling of the rotor l4. Forming in effect a part of the aforedescribed wall or plate ll in the completed housing or casing l6, though structurally removably attached thereto, I provide a housing end plate 4|. Spaced from the end plate 4| is a second housing end plate 42. The end plates 4| and 42 are essentially of the same construction. Along the general central axis of the plates 4| and 42 they are provided with enlarged openings into which the end discs 29 and 32 of the rotor 4 extend, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The rest of the housing It is formed by a pair of curved plates 43 and 44 which extend between the end plates 4| and 42 and form opposite sides or walls of said casing It, said curved plates 43 and 44'being in fact built up of two or more plates which are preferably rigidly and permanently attached together as by welding, all as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. It may be pointed out that the top portions of the two plates 43 and 44 form a maw or feed inlet leading to the cylindrical reducing chamber of the grinder in which the rotor |4 rotates and the top of the left hand plate portion 43 of this maw is preferably made of relatively heavy material as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, since it acts somewhat in the nature of a breaker plate and receives material which is thrown against it by the action of the rotor |4 when in operation. The bottom portion of the reducing chamber within the housing or casing It includes a screen 45 which is preferably formed by a plurality of transversely extending screen bars 46 which have and spacers attached, as by welding. The screen 45 is removably clamped in place on opposite ledges formed in end plates 4| and 42 by clamp screws 41.

The central opening in the end plate 42 is closed by removable plate 48 which has a central bulge adjacent the nut 38 to provide for free rotation thereof.

To clamp the parts of the casing l6 together and particularly to clamp them to the plate I] which is above described as permanently attached to the base I0, I provide a plurality of bolts 49 which are provided with appropriate nuts and which extend through the end plates 4| and 42 and also through the end plate Some of these bolts 49 also extend through the plate 48 and thus removably hold it in position. This is clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. It is evident that by removing those bolts 49 which extend through the plate 48 said plate 48 may be removed while the remainder of the housing |8 is maintained in position.

Adjacent the top of the maw or feed inlet, the housing I6 is provided with a generally circular top plate 50 which is welded to the end plates 4| and 42 and to the curved plates 43 and ,44, thus permanently attaching them together. A similar plate 5| is likewise welded to the plates 4|, 42, 43 and 44 adjacent the bottom of the housing l6 where the discharge opening for the reduced material which passes through the the base l9 and above an opening therein, said bottom member 52 being provided with a discharge opening II which constitutes an extension of the lower portion of the casing l9 and through which opening 53 reduced garbage is discharged. The plate is preferably removably attached to a dense of the bottom member 52 by means of a plurality of nutsand bolts 54. It is evident that by removing the nuts and bolts 54 and the bolts 45 the entire housing l9 may be removed as a unit save only for the side wall i1 and parts rigidly connected thereto, as above described. and this removal may be effected with the rotor ll intact simply by grasping handles 18 and sliding said casing ii to the right, as seen in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings.

When this is done it is desirable to cover the opening 58 particularly if these grinders are employed on ships because tools or parts may ,fall through the opening 53 and be discharged into the water and thus'lost. To this end I provide a plate 55 (see Figs. 1, 2 and-4) which is loosely held by one or more pins 56 adjacent one edge of the disc 5i and as the housing I5 is moved laterally, the plate 55 extends over the opening 53. If it is desired, the plate 55 may be removed from the attaching pin 55 and clamped to the flange of the bottom member 52 to close the opening. The plate 55 extends through a slot in the angle member i8, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings, and is normally positioned under the motor I! and inside the standard Ii.

Attention is now directed to Figs. 1 and 2 of. the drawings and to the construction of the garbage receptacle and the feed chutes or passageways by which the garbage is fed into the maw or throat of the grinder housing It. Extending upwardly from the base lil'and rigidly attached to the standard II is a pair of legs 51 formed of angle members. Across the top of the legs 51 is a supporting bar 58. Mounted upon the legs 51 and the bar 58 is a receptacle in the form of a pan or tray 59 adapted to receive the garbage which is to be ground by the grinding mechanism l5. Additional support for the receptacle 59 is provided by a throat 69 which extends downwardly from the bottom of the pan or tray and which is provided with an integral attaching flange 5! which is bolted in part to the previously described plate 50 of housing l6 and in part to the crosspiece 20 of the bracket l9, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The upper edge of the left hand portion of the receptacle 59, as viewed in Fig. 1 of the drawings, is provided with a curved reinforcing rod 62 which provides a supporting ledge to support containers, such as garbage cans, used to feed garbage to the receptacle 59. Adjacent the other end, the receptacle is made of reduced width by virtue of aninwardly positioned feed chute wall 53 (see Figs. 2 and 5) which is spaced inwardly from the right hand side wall of the receptacle 59, as viewed in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and in practiceiorms a continuation of said right hand side wall. In othe words, the garbage within the receptacle 59 is moved along a path generally below the center line thereof and to a position adjacent the right hand end thereof, as viewed in Fig. 5 of the drawings, where it is delivered to a feed chute which I shall now describe.

Positioned to the left of the wall 63, (as viewed in Fig, 2) is a wall 6| which extends to a trans- 6 versely extending wall 55. Parallel with the transversely extending wall [I is a partition 95.

Thus I provide two chutes or compartments .1 and both of which are open at the bottom and lead to the aforedescribed throat 89. 'By reierence to Fig. 1 ofthe drawings it will be seen that the partition 95 terminates bottoin of the receptacle 59. The bottom portion of the wall 54 to the right of the partition 99, as viewed in Fig. l, or in other words adiacent the compartment 58, is opened and is provided with a swinging gate to hinged at 19 to said wall 64, the gate 59 being positioned inside the wall 94 so the bottom thereor will swing inwardly under the control of the handle 1i which is rigidly attached to said gate 59 and when operated will swing it about the hinge 19 with the bottom thereof swinging inwardly to the chute or compartment 98. It is through this opening which is controlled by the gate 59 that the garbage is fed to the throat 69 and thus to the grinding mechanism I5. It is to be particularly noted that the feed inlet or receiving opening in the bottom of the chute or compartment 58 is not directly above the maw or throat oi. the grinding mechanism i5 but is spaced laterally thereirom and consequently if the operator uses his hands to force the garbage into the chute or compartment 58 it would not be possible for him to extend his hands down into the grinding mechanism l5 sufliciently to get them injured by the rotor it when it is in operation. This is a safety feature of considerable practical importance. The tops of the two chutes or compartments 61 and 59 have separate hinged sloping lids 12 and 13, respectively, and each of these lids 12 and 13 is provided with an operative handle, that for 12 being seen at" and that for 13 being seen at 15. The handles 14 and 15 preferably are provided with holes cooperating with a curved extension 19 formed on the Wall 53 which provides for locking the lids 12 and 13 in closed position, as by a padlock. These lids 12 and 13 when unlocked may swing to opening position to permit the application of water to the chutes or compartments 51 and 68 to clean them out and also to clean out the entire interior of the housing or casing I 5 as well as the throat 60 leading thereto. It is, of course,

evident that the chute 61 when its lid 12 is open permits straight line and direct action into the interior of said casing or housing l5. Also leading to the compartment 58 is a water supply including a control valve 11 whereby a continuous supply of water may be delivered to the interior of the grinding mechanism I5 to assist in the grinding operation, the rate of flow being controlled by said valve 11.

In the operation of the device the garbage to be disposed of will be dumped into the receptacle 59 and pushed by a rake into the chute or compartment 59 while the gate 69 is swung inwardly. A continuous stream of water will flow under the control of valve 11 to said chute or compartment 68 and with the garbage through the throat 50 into the maw or throat of the grinding mechanism IS. The electric motor l2 will, of course. rotate the rotor I I of the grinding mechanism I5 and will very effectively cooperate with the screen 45 to reduce the garbage to a very fine condition where it can be readily disposed of as,

for example, by being delivered to sea water where it will sink without leaving trace of the ship. The grinding .action will, of course, be carried on by the swing hammers 59 in cooperabove the ation with the screen 45. After the grinder has been in use and it is desired to clean it out, the doors l2 and 13 will be swung open and the compartments 61 and 68 washed out along with the interior of the grinder housing It and the throat).

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined 'by the claims here o appended, and I wish therefore not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what I now desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A garbage grinder comprising a housing having a feed inlet, grinding mechanism in said housing, a pan above said housing, a throat connecting said pan and feed inlet, said pan and throat being adapted for receiving and directing garbage to said grinder mechanism, said pan including upright walls forming a pair of adjacent open bottomed interconnected compartments extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and both cmmunicating with said throat, one of said compartments being oil-set laterally with respect to said housing grinder feed inlet and a vertical wall thereof forming a feed receiving opening extending upwardly from the bottom of said pan, a pivoted controllable closure means for said openmg, and closure means for closing the tops of said compartments; whereby a person feeding garbage to said grinder through said upwardly extending feed receiving opening and said laterally oil-set compartment cannot extend his hand through said throat into the path of said grinding mechanism and said last named closure means may be opened to facilitate cleaning of said chambers, throat and grinding mechanism.

2. A feed unit adapted for use with a reducing mechanism including a pan, a throat having an outlet and depending from said pan, upright walls associated with said pan forming adjacent open ended upwardly extending compartments interconnected adjacent their bottoms and above the bottom of said pan and communicating with said throat, one of said compartments being laterally off-set with respect to the outlet of said throat and having an upright wall thereof forming a feed opening extendin upwardly from the bottom of said pan, a pivoted closure means for said opening, a handle for controlling said closure means, and operable closure means for closing the tops of said compartments whereby said last named closure means may be opened to facilitate cleaning of said chambers and throat through their upper ends.-

OSCAR J. FE'IGHT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,968,515 Coble et al July 31, 1934 2,105,759 Stevenson Jan. 18, 1938 2,339,961 Stevenson Jan. 25, 1944 1,965,033 Dillon July 3, 1934 2,141,662 Ossing Dec. 27, 1938 1,821,344 Kautzman Sept. 1, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 274,335 Great Britain July 21, 1927 241,693 Germany Dec. 11, 1911 421,884 Germany Nov. 21, 1925 

